Female Сriminality in Russia in the 1730s according to the Materials of the Detective Order

Abstract. The history of female criminality is a thriving field in Western historic scholarship. Nevertheless, this social phenomenon has not yet received attention in Russian historiography. The article aims to partially fill the gap in historiography by identifying the features of female criminality in Russia in the early 18th century by comparing it with male criminality. The article is based on the court materials of the main court and detective body of Moscow province in the period under review – the Investigative Chancellery. As the study demonstrates, gender was a significant variable in the court cases, determining the motives, methods and circumstances of the commission of crimes. Women practically did not commit crimes involving the use of weapons or physical force, and almost had no opportunity to harm the “state interest”. The most common female crimes were theft, purchase and sale of stolen goods, fornication and magic. Women tended to use magic words or objects in household, and also to involve them in solving problems related to relationships with others: husbands, lovers or landlords. Women were not involved in the public sphere and therefore did not have the necessary skills to commit certain types of crimes, such as counterfeiting.

Keywords: history of criminality, gender history, Investigative Chancellery, Petrine reforms, soldiers’ wives, patriarchy, theft, fornication, magic, arson.